GRITS PUSHING PLAN TO RELAX POT LAWS: PM

Study Shows Surge In Smokers

The liberal government is plowing ahead with a controversial plan to
relax pot laws in the face of a new study showing a surge in Canadian
dope-smokers. The report released by Statistics Canada yesterday
reveals the use of marijuana and hashish has nearly doubled in the
last 13 years -- with teen tokers growing fastest in numbers. About
three million Canadians 15 and older admitted getting high at least
once in 2002 -- 12.2% of the population.

But the upward trend won't deter Prime Minister Paul Martin, who vowed
yesterday to bring back the controversial bill that died when
Parliament closed for the election.

"The legislation on marijuana -- the decriminalization of minor
quantities of marijuana -- that legislation will be re-introduced," he
said.

Admitting he's concerned about the StatsCan findings, rookie Health
Minister Ujjal Dosanjh suggested pot consumption might decrease with
decriminalization.

"My view is that if you make something illegal, some people are more
attracted to it -- it's just the high in getting something in a
stealth fashion," he said. "But if you make it available, if you allow
people to possess it in small quantities for personal use, the allure
kind of disappears for some people."

Conservative MP Vic Toews discounted the theory, insisting weed will
become even more popular if the feds fail to develop a strong national
anti-drug strategy.

"What we have seen is that, with the decrease in penalties generally,
we've seen an increase in the use of the drugs. Why would full
decriminalization change that trend in any way?" he said.

Toews accused the Grits of blindly rushing to decriminalize without
providing roadside deterrent measures and adequately addressing U.S.
concerns.

"We can't afford to jeopardize our trade relationship by adopting a
policy that the American federal government does not approve of," he
said. "Just having the trucks idling at the border for a couple of
hours costs us literally millions and millions of dollars a day -- and
that jeopardizes jobs across Canada."

RISING TREND

In 2002, about 3 million Canadians aged 15 or older said they had
tried marijuana, which represents a significant increase in
self-reported drug use over the last decade.

YEAR CANADIANS HAVING USED CANNABIS

1989 6.5%

1994 7.4%

2002 12.2%